The very early seconds of the Felix Baumgartner jump interest me the most because it was the first time anyone has been in free fall in the vacuum of space until he went low enough to get push back from atmosphere. This experiment might help a lot to test procedures if anyone in the future needs to abandon a low-Earth vehicle in space.

Because the air is thin, the shock wave created is minimal, but there is always the risk that the transition point of the shock wave generated (as his body moves thru the air faster that the air molecules can normally get out of the way) can cause aerodynamic effects that will cause tumbling or spinning, which would make it difficult amp; dangerous to open a parachute. This was the biggest unkown he faced before the jump, something that could be simulated by not tested beforehand.

nothing ... it's all phony, the speed of sounds depends on the air density , there is no sound in space cause there is no air so the speed of sound is used here just as a number, but it's meaningless as he will reach that speed only where there is no air .. when he will reach down an altitude where atmospheric pressure starts, the change will be gradual and by the time he is surrounded by enough air density to carry sound, the friction from the transition will have slowed him down enough to be below sound speed , so he actually will not breach the sound barrier at all.

Space crafts re-entering from space come from much higher .. there fore have a lot more time at 1G acceleration to pick up so much speed that by the time they reach the atmosphere they are so fast they actually slam into it at a speed that is several tens of times the speed of sound .. this dude is doing something cool, but the speed of sound here is not relevant at all

Nice explanation, and obviously spoken by one without knowledge ("the worst kind of fool...."). If you knew anything about anything, you'd realize that a balloon, which uses floatation based on density of the gas within the envelope being less than the density of the gas outside, cannot reach an altitude where there is no air. And as long as there's air, there's sound, and that sound has a speed, and you sir should limit your commentary to areas where you have some knowledge. Don't take away from the man his accomplishment!

like u know better .. here is one idea, why don't you go up 125 miles and open your mouth to try explaining how smart you are ... see if anyone can hear what you say, if you manage to say anything .... good luck, really.

This is not about Felix ... to breach the barrier of sound you need air with some density .. yes, there is some air up at 120 miles .. so much, there is basically no friction .. which means there is no sound, it makes no sense to speak of barrier of sound at that height, their is a reason why the speed of sound is defined at sea level conditions. Yes, Felix fell faster than the barrier of sound .. . where there is no sound.